SCAPE’s competition-winning design splits these components into two main groups: a tree- and bench-filled plaza on the west side of the park, facing the city, and an open area, with a 1.25-acre lawn and a .25-acre stormwater garden, along the bay. “I pulled the plaza toward where people would be arriving to the site, especially on public transportation,” says Orff, “and then I pulled the lawn far out to the harbor to echo what were some of my strongest memories of San Francisco and the environs—these beautiful, large, grassy meadows adjacent to the water.” The two zones meet at a paved area with tables and chairs and occasional food trucks, with plans for a future permanent food-and-beverage pavilion.

Smaller components of China Basin Park (named for the area’s 19th-century docks used by China Clippers of the Pacific Mail Steamship Line) surround SCAPE’s basic scheme. They include a stadium-fronting sand beach with reclaimed wood suggesting driftwood logs; a repurposed wharf where free Zumba, yoga, and high-intensity interval training classes are on offer; tree-lined paseos (one designed by SCAPE, another by local studio CMG Landscape Architecture) between Mission Rock’s buildings, designed by the likes of Studio Gang, MVRDV, WORKac, and Henning Larsen; and a small, fenced dog run—a ubiquitous park amenity in a city that has more dogs than kids.

Elevational changes bring even more variety to the project. SCAPE lifted the site to target 2100 sea level rise. It dug out existing landfill and replaced it with cellular concrete and recycled glass aggregate to prevent differential settlement; the lightweight fill results in a site that is now 10 percent lighter than before. The lifted lawn offers views across the water toward the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge and to the Oakland Hills. Its highpoint sits atop a restroom, an often neglected—or omitted—facility in public parks that here is invitingly crafted by Min Design. Concrete stadium seating, facing the low right field wall of Oracle Park, spills from the lawn. “You can’t see in [to the game], but you can feel the sound,” says SCAPE associate John Rabago of the experience. During a recent visit, the cheers of the crowd after a Giants double play, amplified by the stadium’s shape, were overwhelming.

While the park rises it also steps down for visual—if not physical—access to the water along the sand beach. Rabago says connections to the adjacent cove, including a launch for the kayakers who retrieve home-run balls from the water, were cut from initial plans but may be built later. The COVID pandemic and the resulting downturn of the local office real estate market resulted in this and other cuts to the project. Orff seems resigned to these alterations. “In a way, you really just need nature,” she says of the stripped-down beach design. “You need a place to just do what you want to do rather than having somebody else prescribe it.”

The same could be said of the entire park, as people come off the paths and make the park their own. On my game-day visit, I witnessed many scenes of off-program use: impromptu kayak launching from cove-side riprap, seemingly unsanctioned solo dancing on the wharf, and many, many dogs on the lawn (none in the fenced area). SCAPE’s design checks off all the requirements of its client’s complex brief. But as the Mission Rock neighborhood fills in, China Basin Park—like any good urban park—will benefit as much from its orchestrated spaces as from its unexpected use to make the park a place.